Scania is now among 200 global companies to have signed The Climate Pledge which commits to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement.
The trucking manufacturer recently joined 86 new signatories in the initiative which was co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019.
Scania president and chief executive Christian Levin says the company is “proud” to be involved in the project.
“Scania has set far-reaching climate targets and we look forward to collaborate with like-minded companies to deliver the transformational action needed to tackle climate change.
“Heavy commercial transport is no longer a hard-to-abate sector. We know how to reduce the emissions. We have the technology and we know what we need to do.
“I urge other companies in the industry to follow along with other stakeholders involved in achieving a sustainable transport system,” Levin says.
The Climate Pledge, led by former UN climate chief and founding partner of Global Optimism Christiana Figueres, and Tom Rivett-Carnac, former political strategist at the UNFCCC, seeks to bring together a group of companies and organisations that are prepared to move faster and inspire greater climate action.
“The recent report released by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] is the starkest warning yet that the systems supporting human life are reaching tipping points and that the window of time to act decisively is narrowing,” Figueres says.
“This wake-up call from science must be faced with courage and conviction. In this light, it’s encouraging that 86 more companies – some of the largest household names in the world – are now joining The Climate Pledge, committing to accelerate their actions to tackle climate change in a timely fashion, and playing their part in building a low-carbon economy.
“I look forward to the fruits of the leadership we will see from this collective of 200 signatories that are now part of The Climate Pledge,” Figueres says.
The commitment to The Climate Pledge means Scania agrees to three principals of action:
• Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis;
• Implement decarbonisation strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies;
• Neutralise any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially-beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.
Procter & Gamble, HP, Salesforce, ASOS, and Nespresso were also among the new signatories which in total generate over $1.8 trillion in global annual revenues and have more than seven million employees across 26 industries in 21 countries.
